Wednesday, April 25, 2007

This article was meant to be in the Horizon newsletter at the Sultan Qaboos University by yesterday, but because of my ever busy schedule that has me by the neck, it was submitted only late last night and is still to be reviewed this morning.

An initial 'go' was given for the article pending the review of the content, so hopefully you will see it in the foreword of the late issue of the said newsletter.

I hope you enjoy it.

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The World of Media

When was there ever a time that you ever watched program or read an article or even heard a radio show that had a profound affect on you and your life?

This is something that we forget think about in the conscious sense up to the point that we neglect the various effects and disadvantages that it may have in effect on our life, whether or not we realize those changes is something up to our perception and our lifestyle of living.

In the past it used to take a month or more for information to cross from one country to another let alone another continent, and in contrast, nowadays, all it takes these days to learn about what is happening on one side of the globe is the flick of a remote control.

Information has become the new weapon in the current period of time that we live in now while technology is merely a factor about increasing the velocity of it reaching from one end to another.

Chances are, in the current time, that we learn more from the media than we do from affirmative and established older sources for real news. Ranging from politics to latest teen rave that is now in trend; information controls our choices; our voices, and our very pattern of thinking, too.

If we play our cards right, then we stand a chance to filter out the right information that involves the positive influence on us as a society and community. But if the latter were to happen, then we can only behold the power of information controlling the country and caging it within its own fears and fictitious demons that hold no existence in our world of reality.

How is it then that we control the effects of this powerful two sided sword, then?

The first and most important method is self-censorship; not only does this filter out the wrong type of information that may affect us negatively but it also develops the sense of responsibility within ourselves and towards our society. Another suggestive method that could be used is to cut the path of this negative piece of information from its source.

But in the end, should the person really feel the need to find that piece of information in complete disregard to its nature – good or bad – then there's a large possibility that probably nothing would stop them from finding it out.

VerveEarth

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